In the first year where neither major political party is using the “party line” on election ballots, some changes are already evident, says Julia Sass Rubin, the Rutgers University professor whose research helped fuel the court challenge to the line.
Both Democrats and Republicans in almost every county in the state used the party line to group their preferred candidates in one column on the ballot.
“I would say the two most notable impacts so far are that so many Democrats and Republican candidates, including pretty legitimate candidates with a shot at winning, [are] choosing not to go for an endorsement. That would have been unheard of before,” said Rubin, an associate dean at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
“And the other impact is just the number of people running for the Legislature, so we have twice the number of people running as we did two years ago.”
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The absence of the party line makes surprises more possible, Rubin says.
“A, we have candidates running who are very viable who are not on the line. B, if one of them actually wins, that would be quite dramatic. For example, if Fulop won or Baraka won, they don’t have the line in any counties,” said Rubin, referring to candidates in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, which takes places June 10.
“Even if Gottheimer or Sweeney [won], they don’t have the line in very many counties, so they would also be quite dramatic.”
Rubin said the other thing she’s watching for is the power of the county organizations without the line.